Watchdog says AWE safety failures were 'comprehensive and basic'

The Nuclear Information Service made a Freedom of Information request to get hold of the report from the Health and Safety Executive, following an investigation into the fire at the Atomic Weapons Establishment

An investigation by a safety watchdog concluded it was lucky a fire at an atomic bomb factory did not lead to “numerous fatalities”.

But AWE plc says, since the fire three years ago, it is now judged one of the best companies in the UK for health and safety.

The Nuclear Information Service made a Freedom of Information request to get hold of the report from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), following an investigation into the fire at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston in August 2010.

It exposed a range of serious and systematic failures by managers responsible for explosives safety at the factory.

The investigation revealed inadequate risk assessments, poorly trained staff and a failure of safety systems – including systems to ensure emergency response teams were aware of the presence of explosives.

Concerns about explosives safety standards had been reported to AWE management, who had not acted on them.

The fire broke out when AWE employees were manufacturing a batch of nitrocellulose lacquer used in the manufacture of explosives. A member of staff suffered burns to his face and arm.

AWE plc, which operates the Atomic Weapons Establishment, admitted at Reading Crown Court on May 16, failing to ensure the safety of its employees in breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The company was fined £200,000 and ordered to pay more than £80,000 in costs and £2,500 in compensation to the employee who was injured.

The investigation concluded AWE’s failings were “comprehensive and basic, particularly when compared with arrangements in place elsewhere in the company”.

The report said: “The company did not pay sufficient attention to non-nuclear high hazard activities on site which it considered low risk.”

One building was damaged and one employee injured, but the report found the consequences “could have been far more severe” if the fire had ignited explosives in the building.

Firefighters at the incident “were put at risk because they attended the building without knowing that explosives were present in the building”.

The report found that AWE’s actions leading up to and on the night of the incident “fell far below the standard expected in an explosives manufacturing company”.

At the time of the incident all those present had worked their normal shift and were into their fifth hour of overtime.

Peter Burt, of the Nuclear Information Service, said: “The blunt truth is that the Atomic Weapons Establishment put many lives at risk by taking an unacceptably lax approach to explosives safety, and then tried to cover up the extent of the accident and its own responsibility for what had happened.

“A meticulous investigation by the Health and Safety Executive concluded that AWE played down the consequences of the fire. Instead of being honest about what had happened and explain what was being done to put things right, the company decided to make up stories to tell local people that everything was fine at the site.”

Catherine Lynagh, AWE spokeswoman, said: “Over the last three years, AWE has worked hard to implement all of the recommendations from our independently chaired investigation as well as those made by the Health and Safety Executive.

“As the judge noted in his remarks in the court case, the ‘HSE now assesses AWE overall as amongst the best in the UK in terms of health and safety procedures’.”